Chapter 1

The afternoon was hot and humid, the air thick enough to cut with a knife, as Dan swung the last bale of hay from the pickup onto the stack for pulling up into the hayloft. At least he had it all in near the barn and now just had to get it up into the loft under shelter before it rained. He dropped out of the truck bed and started into the barn to drop the rope and hook from the beam over the open loft door.

Dan was not really a farmer. He was a twenty-two year old senior physics student. At least he would be a student again in another six weeks when school started once more. Until then he was "farm sitting" - keeping an eye on his aunt and uncle's place while they were finally off on the vacation trip they had been talking about for fifteen years. Actually there wasn't much involved. The "farm" was about three hundred acres isolated up in the mountains and was only used now to produce a couple of small hay crops which were sold during the winter. Seventy five - even forty - years ago it had been an active farm, but as most everyone had moved away from the area and as his aunt and uncle had gotten older, it had become less and less of a working farm. Today there wasn't a neighbor for miles and most of the surrounding land had been added to the state or national forests.

Dan climbed up the ladder and went to the end of the loft with its large, open door. He threw the rope down and stopped for a minute to look around. From here he could see across the mountain side, but no other buildings besides the farm house were visible. A small, gravel road wound up the side of the hills, in and out of the woods, and ended at the gate. Actually, it didn't really end but became a dirt forest road beyond that point. Dan stretched and wiped sweat from his face. He was a fairly large man - about six foot one - and the summer working here had built up his muscles. In the heat he wore only a pair of cutoff jeans and work boots, but still felt hot. Looking out again he could see a dark cloud front in the distance. It would be a while yet, but they would get rain this afternoon and it would probably cool things off a little. Then, as he had done when he spent summers here as a teenager, he grabbed the rope and slid down it to the ground. He began hoisting the bales up and swinging them into the loft.

The hook was designed so that when the bale swung in and dropped, the hook released and he could bring it back for another bale without having to climb back up to the loft. But after a while the pile became large enough that he stopped and headed back up to straighten it out and clear room for the rest. As he finished moving the stack back against one of the walls, he looked out again and saw a cloud of dust along the road. Curious, he watched as a small, red car moved in and out of the tree shadows. In the eight weeks he had been here he hadn't seen a car on that road since he had returned from driving his aunt and uncle to the airport to start their trip. "I wonder who could be coming up here," he thought. "Maybe it's some gorgeous babe just too hot for my bod to wait." He laughed at the thought. After eight weeks isolated up here with only a couple of trips into town, Dan was about to climb the walls. He didn't mind being isolated, but he did miss women. On campus he had an active dating life and, like most twenty two year old males, he only thought about sex about three million times a day. It had definitely been a long summer.

In a couple of minutes the car rounded a curve and drove right up through the gate like the driver was familiar with the place. He could see now that it was a small two seat sports car - not at all the typical type found out here in the country. He couldn't tell much about the driver. He thought it looked like a woman, but whoever it was had on a wide brimmed hat which hid her face. Dan slid down the rope again and walked over to where the car had stopped between the house and the barn. As he approached the car, the door opened and out stepped one of the most attractive women he had ever seen. She stood about five eight, had shoulder length blonde hair and flashing green eyes. She was wearing a pair of cutoffs and a sleeveless cotton shirt with the tails tied under her breasts, leaving several inches of bare skin showing. It was obvious she wasn't wearing a bra and had something really nice inside the shirt. She had a figure that Dan thought was incredible with a narrow waist, long, long legs, and a tight ass that exactly filled the cutoffs. She turned towards him and flashed a smile that lit up her entire face. "I must have been out in the heat too long," Dan thought. "This can't possibly be real."

For a second he just stood there and than came back to reality. "Hi," he said. "Can I help you?"

"I was just looking for Tom and Mary. I haven't seen them for a while and just decided to come by. Are they around?"

"Actually they are out of the country for the next month. I'm just watching the place for them - they're my aunt and uncle - while they're away. I'm afraid you wasted a trip up here."

She gave him a frank apprisal. "Oh, I wouldn't say it's wasted." She let her eyes roam over him and Dan felt himself becoming both confused and somewhat embarrassed. He wasn't imaging this, was he? Then she added, "It's been quite some time, hasn't it?"

Dan was now completely confused. He was certain that if he had ever seen the beautiful creature before he could not possibly have forgotten. For a few seconds he just looked at her and probably looked even more confused than he felt.

"You don't know who I am, do you?" she laughed. He loved the sound of that laugh. But, no, he didn't know. Should he? "Think about it. It's been seven years, but you really do know me. From right here, if fact." Again the laugh.

Dan thought back. Seven years? Seven years ago he had been fifteen and had spent his last summer here on the farm. Along with his younger brother, Bob, and two cousins, Lisa and Susan. Well, Sue was really his cousin even if Lisa was not really a blood relation. She was the daughter of his aunt's sister, while Dan's father was his uncle's brother. Bob was three years younger than Dan and Lisa would have been thirteen and Sue a year older than Lisa. Sue was short with black hair and looked nothing like the woman in front of him. Lisa? The age was about right, she was a blonde, but she had been a skinny tomboy, usually dirty and scratched. He must have met this woman somewhere else.

She smiled at him and said. "Still trying to figure it out, Cousin?" Cousin? Could this possibly be Lisa?

Dan finally spoke - actually almost squeaked out, "Lisa? Is that you?"

She laughed again. "It's me all right. I guess I have changed a little."

"A little! You are incredible! I remember you as a skinny little kid trying to keep up with us boys."

"Yeah. That was me. Skinny, dirty, usually getting into trouble. And generally tagging around after you. Well, don't just stand there. Aren't we still 'kissing cousins'?"

Dan finally came out of his near trance. He smiled at her and started forward. "If we're not, I would be willing to change families." As he came up to her he suddenly realized how dusty and sweaty he was, but Lisa put her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss directly on his mouth. In a second Dan forgot the dust and returned her hug and kiss.

"Did you really just come by to say hello to them?" he asked.

"Well, I had planned on bumming a few meals and a couple of nights' stay. I'm mainly waiting for school to start and had a couple of weeks to kill. I'm meeting a girlfriend in two weeks and we're going to travel around a little, but right now I just thought I'd bum around a little. What are you doing up here?"

"Like I said, I'm watching the place. They finally took that trip they were always talking about and I said I'd take care of the place for them this summer. I've got another six weeks before I go back to school." Just then there was a distant roll of thunder and Dan suddenly remembered the hay. "I've also got to get this hay inside before it starts raining."

"OK. Go ahead. I'll just hang around and hassle like I always used to." As she said this she ran a fingernail down Dan's back, causing him to shiver.

As he broke away and went back over to the pile of hay bales, he looked over his shoulder and said, "You might want to put the top up on your car - or maybe just run it inside the barn. Otherwise it'll be wet pretty soon." Lisa nodded and went back to her car and Dan started lifting the bales again. As soon as she had the car inside, Lisa came back and, true to her word, set about kibitzing. Dan started to pull a bale up and Lisa took a long grass head and tickled him just as he was trying to swing the bale. He dropped it and she laughed. The first time it was funny. The second time, less so. By the time she had caused some kind of trouble four or five times, Dan was beginning to get frustrated. He could see the storm moving closer and he wasn't making much progress getting the hay up into the loft. When he stopped to climb up and rearrange the bales again, Lisa followed him up the ladder and continued to hassle.

"Look, I've got to get this stuff inside. You're really not helping things too much now. Lay off a little, OK?"

Lisa stopped for a second and then a devilish look came across her face. She waited until he picked up another bail and then tickled him again. He dropped the bale and as he started to turn towards her, she said, "Just what are you going to do about it? Huh?"

Dan stopped. He turned and started to speak with a scowl on his face. Then he stopped and the scowl changed to a grin. "You remember how those summers we used to play up here a lot. A lot of different things, but I remember playing pirates quite a bit. I think maybe I'll just tie you up as my captive again."

Lisa's eyes opened wide. "You wouldn't dare." But it was clear from her expression that it was just that - a dare.

Dan grabbed her wrists and held both in one hand as he retrieved a coil of rope from a hook on the wall. He quickly looped it around her wrists several times and tied them together in front of her. Despite her struggles, he then pulled her back into the center of the loft and threw the rope over a beam, pulled it until Lisa's hands were well over her head and tied the rope off on a wall cleat.

"That should keep you out of the way for a few minutes while I finish." With that, and amid her protests, Dan went back down and began once again to swing the remaining bales up. After about twenty minutes he had them all inside and once again climbed back to the loft and began to stack them.

All during this time Lisa was making sarcastic remarks and trying in general to needle him. Finally when he had finished with the hay, Dan came over towards her. "You are still a pain in the ass, aren't you?" His tone belied any real anger, though. "Still hassling and trying to cause me trouble. You know, I really ought to punish you."